1 Overview
You may be eligible to county council help with transport costs to school, sixth form college or college of further education if you:
- are a student of sixth form age with special educational needs or disabilities
- live in West Sussex
Normally this will mean that you will have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.
The county council does not normally offer help with transport for Post-16 students who do not have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
For full information, read our Transport Policy.
The contribution for academic year 2025 to 2026 is £854. This can be paid by direct debit over 7 months from October. This is waived for families who are assessed as being on a low income.
2 Apply for support
So that we can decide whether or not you are eligible for financial support towards your transport costs to sixth form or college, you will need to complete our online form.
Post-16 and college transport form for students with SEND (external link)This form is for transport starting from September 2025 only.
If you have any queries relating to transport for the remainder of this academic year (2024 to 2025), email Post16Travel@westsussex.gov.uk.
You will not be guaranteed any form of transport assistance for September 2025 at this stage.
Please check your Spam inbox and add donotreply@westsussex.gov.uk and Post16Travel@westsussex.gov.uk to the Safe Senders list so you do not miss any emails.
Notes
- It can take up to 4 weeks for us to respond to your application.
- If we require further information in order to assess your application we will contact you to let you know.
- If your application is unsuccessful we will write to you explaining why.
- If your application is successful we will contact you with more information about what happens next.
- Please do not contact us about specific transport routes, passenger assistants or drivers, as we will not know the details at this stage. If there are going to be changes to your current transport, we will confirm them in writing.
3 If you aren't eligible for help
16-19 Bursary Fund
You may be able to apply for help through your establishment's 16-19 Bursary Fund if we cannot help. More details about this are available from your school or college.
Bus and rail discounts
For details, including the new 16 to 20 Bus Saver, see our Travel discounts page on Your Space. You can get discounts on most rail travel, including peak time journeys and season tickets with the 16-17 Saver, though if you travel on the south coast line - especially if a you have a longer journey - you may find the Unizone ticket cheaper.
4 Contact our team
5 Supporting documents
You can access the Post-16 Transport policy statement and the Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Transport policies on our home to school and college transport policies webpage.
Additional information:
6 Unsuccessful applicants
If you are not eligible, alternative modes of support are set out within our Post-16 and Post-19 transport policy statement, or you may be able to purchase a concessionary seat on existing transport for your journey, if a spare seat is available.
You may also want to ask your college or sixth form for details of any bursary schemes they may have to help with expenses.
If your application for home to school transport has been unsuccessful you can appeal the decision.